Ride to Fort Mount Pleasant

[Stirling]

Wagon train to Allerdice Springs.

Afternoon of Monday 5th May. 1879.

The cavalry support eagerly chase the half dozen marauding natives intent on rustling the cattle of the slower rear wagon. They chase the group over a hollow, firing a volley of gunfire which brings down a couple of the braves. The gunfire continues out of sight as the settler wagons are urged forward. The gunfire, suddenly rapid then stilled. Silence. Then a loose horse runs back, the rider unseated, an arrow stuck in the saddle and a streak of blood splattered across its mane.

Then from behind and the valley sides, a number of native horsemen appear. They seem led by a chieftain who holds some tribal war club which he uses to signal to the others who charge at the settler wagons.

The war party contains perhaps two score horsemen armed with lance or bows. They will be upon you in a couple of minutes. The settlers look to the party for action. Do you try to outrun them or circle the wagons and meet the threat head on?

next actions please.

[redwarrior]

Malcom looks over to the preacher, and any Cavalry still with the wagon. There is no way these wagons will outrun those braves. You you think we can smooth talk them? In any case, I think we should circle the wagons here. If we have to fight, no need to do it tired.

[Rex]

Wina

Loud, "Circle the wagons!"

She will start looking for any natural cover that we can also use.

Can I spend a fate point or whatever its called to have a rock out crop or something we can use for cover?

[Marullus]

Pastor Flannigan

The old man sits with his shotgun across his lap, watching calmly as the natives come over the top of the ridge, waiting for the lead from Wina or Jack LaGrange.

Loud, "Circle the wagons!"

He nods once, setting down his shotgun on the seat of the wagon between Doc Bolt and Malcolm and hops off, trusting the wagons will be managed safely by the others. We have just a few minutes before the riders are on us.

The preacher pushes his glasses up on his nose and pulls his worn leather-bound bible from his coat pocket. Holding it with both hands and murmuring prayers beneath his breath, he advances about 30 yards from the circling wagons. "the Lord is my refuge," he speaks aloud, "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent." He stands upright before the charging indians, confident and trusting in the Lord.
Barrier [1d10-2] = 9-2 = 7[1d6-2] = 5-2 = 3

He raises his empty hand, showing it unarmed, his other holding his bible to his chest. He prays as he waits for the horsemen to approach.
Tongues [1d10-2] = 4[1d6-2] = 4
Error in that roll, there's no minus 2 on this one because it is Novice, not Seasoned. So the final result is 4.

He calls out, his voice booming in the native language of those riding down on him.
"Peace be with you! Peace be with you, halt and come to rest. We can speak with each other with no need for further harm.
These wagons before you are no threat to you. Come, I stand open handed."
Persuasion [1d8+2] = 7+2 = 9[1d6+2] = 5+2 = 7

Let's hope for the best....

[Stirling]

Wagon train to Allerdice Springs.

Afternoon of Monday 5th May. 1879.

The settlers press their wagons with an urgency of speed. On the grassland trail there are few prominent features but a little further up the trail Wina spots a shallow gulch, perhaps an old stream bed bled dry. (no fate point used) A few moss covered rocks and sycamore thickets provide some spartan shielding. The settlers head this way and brake at the lip of the gulch, wagons forming three squares of a rough box shape. Men shout for weapons and womenfolk help load. There is a nervous fear among them but a determination shown as preparations for an assault take place. Jack LaGrone and Wina take a stand in the middle of the front line with a lone cavalryman. Doc Bolt goes to the left and Malcolm Rap shelters behind a wagon on the right.

Pastor Flanagan amazes everyone who think he has a suicide wish. The greybearded cleric imposes himself and a divine barrier between the wagon wall and the charging natives. He raises his hands and speaks in fluent Pawnee, advocating peace and pacifism.

The marauding natives sweep down from the ridge lines to charge at the wagons, forming one stream of horses which run parallel to the wooden wall. A volley of gunfire and loosed arrows are exchanged but in the first round of battle near misses and grazes are the result. A quartet of riders break to charge at the suited book wielder. A trio of natives whoop at the pastor and fling lances as they circle him. Two fall short to impale the ground by your feet. A third looks destined to send you to glory but somehow ricochets away from your torso to land limply in the grass. The leader of the renegades, outfitted in a horned hooded cape of buffalo hide rides up to you. His horse bucks inches from you (as it hits the unseen wall of force). The chief rages in your face waving his lance and war club.

"My Father's land, his father's and his before him. You pale faces will only own the grave ground your body lies in. Your wheels of wood and steel dig unholy ruts in our sacred land."

Though he curses you with a vehemence, he seems to respect your boldness in confronting them and your charisma radiates an authority that mimics his own position.

next actions please.

I will post an initiative from the deck of cards. The Indians, armed with primitive weapons are hostile presently, the chief moved to uncooperative.

Edited: The chief will act before Pastor Flanagan. I will post his action here. Everyone else acts before the hostile natives.

[Stirling]

Native Chief

The bare-chested rider, painted in red and black woad, points his lance at Pastor Flanagan. "You are 'Standing Bear', growling over her cubs in danger. Flee back to your cave as the spirits breathe their fury upon you."

You understand as he speaks a curse that an 'unholy word' rebukes you. make a Spirit roll save. Failure means you suffer the Shaken condition. A natural 1 results in you taking a wound.

The chief utters his rebuke and jerks his mount. He waves his war club in a circle over his head and points towards the wagon circle. A few yards in front of the chief the dust if the ground begins to swirl dramatically, spinning faster abd faster in spiralling circles until a cone of dust abd debris is picked up. A mini tornado is forming which the chief manipulates towards the wagons.

The three other hostiles look to surround and slay the priest on their action.

[redwarrior]

On his action, Malcom will shoot at 1 of the braves getting ready to attack the preacher.

Shoot [1d6] = 5 Wild Card [1d6] = 1

Edit: Damage added, verified ROF is 1. Can either use the second roll for my next shot, or not as you wish
Colt Damage [2d6+1] = 4+1 = 5

Edit: Nevermind ROF is 1
I can't remember if pistols ave a 2 ROF or not? If so, second shot:
shoot again [1d6] = 5 Wild Card [1d6] = 3

[Rex]

Wina

Wina will attempt to take out the Chief with her Winchester.

Winchester [1d8] = 3 [1d6] = 5

Winchester damage [1d8] = 5 [1d8] = 7

[Marullus]

make a Spirit roll save. Failure means you suffer the Shaken condition. A natural 1 results in you taking a wound.

Spirit Roll Save [1d10] = 1[1d6] = 4
Clarifying that result before I take the rest of my action. Is that a success (total of 4) or Shaken with a Wound (natural 1 on other die)?

[ybn1197]

Doc Bolt charges his Lightning Bolt gun, maxing out the power and firing it at the chief and 2 of the warriors.

Spending 3 power points for three uses of Bolt.
Attack Chief: [1d8] = 7
Attack Warrior #1: [1d8] = 4
Attack Warrior #2: [1d8] = 7
Attack WC: [1d6] = 5
Substitute the Wild Card roll for the attack on Warrior #1

Attack Chief Damage: [1d6] = 4+[1d6] = 3
Attack Warrior #1 Damage: [1d6] = 3+[1d6] = 4
Attack Warrior #2 Damage: [1d6] = 5+[1d6] = 4

[Stirling]

Pastor Flanagan the natural 1 rolled on the Spirit save, regardless of Wild Card result means you receive a wound.

Perhaps you start sweating blood from your brow or similar and you are also Shaken.

You can use a Fate Chip however to roll a 1d6 to add to the result of the Natural one and negate the wound but this action allows the GM to gain an additional Fate Chip also.

[Stirling]

Wagon train attack.

I will wait another day for Isungr to post for Jack before I npc his action.

The settlers hurriedly load old rifles and fire. The men folk taking positions behind the front wheels of their respective wagons. The women help load and keep order, shepherding children or elderly into the relative safety of the dry creek along with the oxen.

The men fire in unison as soon as the order is given, targeting the closest group of riders closing in on them. A number are brought down from gunshot wounds.

Settlers rifle fire at Indians [1d6] = 2 [1d6] = 5 [1d6] = 4 [1d6] = 5
Settlers rifle fire at Indians [1d4] = 4 [1d4] = 1 [1d4] = 4 [1d4] = 1
Settlers shooting Ace re-roll [1d4] = 4 [1d4] = 3
Settlers shooting 2nd Ace re-roll [1d4] = 1

Five of the natives get shot, one hit with a raise.

For brevity I will use one macro for each successful hit.
Settlers rifle damage 1-4. [1d10] = 7 [1d10] = 4

Settlers rifle damage plus raise. [1d10] = 1 [1d10] = 8 [1d6] = 5

Four natives take 11hp damage, one takes 14hp damage.

The natives, encouraged in their bloodlust after the massacre of the troopers continue forward and loose a volley of arrows and war lances at the defenders.

I will use half the natives each round. Technically all 30 could fire at once. Firing from horseback is an 'unstable platform' and incurs a penalty. I think arbitrating that half the group auto miss so that the other half can attack without penalty is fair and saves me rolling 30+ attacks.

The chief and 3 natives surround Pastor. I will deal with them seperately and I will use a normal atrack when player characters face an individual opponent.

The wagons provide -1 to hit cover bonus.
Natives Lance attack. Throw spear [1d6-1] = 4-1 = 3 [1d6-1] = 6-1 = 5 [1d6-1] = 3-1 = 2 [1d6-1] = 5-1 = 4
Natives Throw spear damage 1) [1d4] = 1 [1d6] = 5 2) [1d4] = 1 [1d6] = 4

Riding close enough to hurl their feathered lances, the natives target the surviving uniformed cavalryman. Two lances pierce his chest and he falls clutching at the shafts which impale him. His eyes quickly glaze over and he bleeds out.

A volley of arrows are loosed over the wagon wall.

Natives bow and arrow attack at settlers. [1d6-1] = 1-1 = 0 [1d6-1] = 1-1 = 0 [1d6-1] = 4-1 = 3

Natives attack at players. Doc, Jack, Mal, Wina [1d6-3] = 3-3 = 0 [1d6-3] = 1-3 = -2 [1d6-3] = 1-3 = -2 [1d6-3] = 1-3 = -2

Though the first handful of natives are brought down by superior gunplay from the settlers, the war party return a volley of arrows and spears which succeed in slaying the cavalryman.

I will wait for an update from Pastor and Jack then post the next initiative result.

[Marullus]

OOC:

I spent all my Chips in the exorcism, so I don't think I have one to spend. I'll have to take the Shaken and the Wound and roll to recover.
Overcome Shaken [1d10] = 6[1d6] = 3
Shaken is removed, but I still have only free actions. My Barrier still has two turns, I think?
Soak Wound [1d4] = 3[1d6] = 6
Soak Wound -Ace [1d6] = 1
One wound soaked.

The Native Chief sits astride his horse and spits an epithet at the preacher standing below him. The Preacher's eyes are forced downward as cuts appear on his forehead, like thorns pressed into his brow. His fingers grip the old, weathered bible, his knuckles going white as he steels himself in his faith. "Forgive them, Father; they know not what they do," he says in a pained voice - but the wounds close and the blood dries up upon his forehead.

Despite the anguish on his face, the frail old man doesn't bow, doesn't fall. His body trembles but he remains upright, gripping his Bible, standing alone among the four natives. He lifts his eyes and regards them flatly, reciting as the Natives fire upon him.
"Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows."

[Stirling]

Wagon train to Allerdice Springs.

Oh. I thought I reset the Fate Chip allotment as you left the Fort just as I reset it for the pair who left Cheyenne.

Okay. Everybody receives a new total of 3 Fate Chips.

Pastor Flanagan finds that no weapon formed against him shall prosper. Receiving strength in his inner man he is able to soak the single wound that the unholy word physically impacted upon him and by default remove the Shaken mental state. the WC and ace result didn't score a raise but a simple success so I calculate that as 1 wound and Shaken removed. A raise would remove a 2nd wound or cause you to remove Shaken and act as normal. Your 'free actions' are the oratory. You may move also if you wish.

Rex & Redwarrior could you both re-roll damage please.
The 2d8 or 2d6 should be rolled as seperate dice. For example [1d8] [1d8] each may ace. Include any +1 in your macro description or add a [1d1] to account for it.

I will wait for damage results then update post.

[redwarrior]

Wagon train to Allerdice Springs.

Rex & Redwarrior could you both re-roll damage please.
The 2d8 or 2d6 should be rolled as seperate dice. For example [1d8] [1d8] each may ace. Include any +1 in your macro description or add a [1d1] to account for it.

I will wait for damage results then update post.

Malcom's reroll.
Malcolm pistol damage [1d6] = 4 [1d6] = 3
For some reason, the dice roller was being smarter than I was this morning, and I couldn't get the +1 to stick, but 8 total damage with no aces.

[Stirling]

Doc Bolt

you may post your next action prior to others as you are top of the players/opponent's initiative.

Your previous zap shocked two of the natives surrounding the pastor.

[Marullus]

Thanks for the clarification!

The roleplay dictates that he stand (literally) firm in his faith. He's remaining in the three sides of his barrier and not backing down before the chieftain, so no moving.

While I now could spend a chip to act normally, I've already committed to the "free actions only" narrative...

...but it seems unlikely I will live to next round. So with the boon of spending a chip, I will perform an action, adding to my previous narrative.

Spend one chip; act normally. Then, cast Stun.
[1d10] = 6[1d6] = 6
(+2 Conviction, -2 Novice spell = total of 6 for the action)

Our locations are narratively squishy, but since the chief is face-to-face and the two braves are close enough for spears, I'm assuming they and their horses are inside the "medium blast template"? Also, the chief's tornado is maintained by concentration, however being Shaken impacts that.

Looking squarely at the native chieftain, the steel of conviction returns to the old man's eyes.
"The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded."
he concludes, and brings together his hands, clapping his left hand against the book of scripture held in his right. A clap of thunder bursts outward from him.

[Stirling]

I am updatin posts and results as we speak. Waiting on some re-roll damage but to note:

Doc Bolt zaps two of the natives dead and hits chief also. Wina also hit chief. After her damage is resolved I will update the action but with the new draw Doc can act before the opponent's. So he can post and I will post for settlers, Jack, Chief and natives. Then remaining players.

[ybn1197]

Doc Bolt charges his Lightning Bolt gun again, maxing out the power and, this time, firing all three bolts at the chief.

Lightning Bolt Gun: [1d8] = 2
Lightning Bolt Gun: [1d8] = 8
Lightning Bolt Gun Ace: [1d8+8] = 1+8 = 9
Lightning Bolt Gun: [1d8] = 2
Wild Card Roll: [1d6] = 2

Lightning Gun Damage: [1d6] = 5 [1d6] = 1

[Rex]

Updated the original post with correct damage.